Cuban Crisis 1962

Cuban Crisis (1962)

a crisis produced by the aggressive actions of American imperialism directed against Cuba.

The victory of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the revolutionary government’s implementation of radical measures infringing upon the interests of the American monopolies met with acute hostility from the ruling circles of the USA. From the first months of 1959, these circles exerted political and economic pressure on Cuba, including an economic blockade, the infiltration of saboteurs, and the bombing of Cuban cities, in order to wipe out Cuba as a revolutionary center in the western hemisphere. In April 1961 the Playa Giron region was invaded by mercenaries, who were quickly routed by Cuba’s armed forces. Nevertheless, the ruling circles of the USA did not renounce their plans of smothering the revolution. In February 1962, Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States. Incursions into the air space and territorial waters of Cuba became more frequent during 1961–62.

In view of the obvious threat of renewed intervention, the Cuban government began to strengthen the country’s defense potential; in particular, it concluded an agreement with the USSR to place strategic weapons in Cuba. Citing this fact, the government of the USA established a naval blockade of Cuba late in October 1962 and concentrated powerful naval, air, and marine forces in the Caribbean region for an invasion of Cuba. Through a number of political and diplomatic measures the Soviet government worked to alleviate the grave international crisis and eliminate the threat of an invasion of Cuba. It condemned the aggressive actions of the government of the USA, called upon the peoples of the world to bar the way to the aggressors (see the “Declaration of the Soviet Government,” Pravda, Oct. 24, 1962, p. 1), and at the same time adopted a decision to carry out some measures of a military nature in the USSR.

The steps taken by the Soviet Union and the firm resolve of the Cuban people, reflected in the program for ensuring security in the Caribbean region proposed by the Cuban government, forced the government of the USA to evaluate the emerging situation more soberly. In late October and early November 1962, Soviet-American negotiations on the conditions for settling the crisis were conducted with the participation of representatives of Cuba and the secretary-general of the UN. As a result of the negotiations, Soviet strategic weapons were removed from Cuba and the government of the USA lifted the blockade of Cuba, withdrew from Guantanamo (an American military base on the territory of Cuba) the additional troops brought there during the crisis, demobilized reservists, canceled military preparations in Florida, and took upon itself commitments of nonag-gression against Cuba.

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